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U.S. men win 5,000-meter relay in Shanghai

Posted 9/29/13 by International Skating Union
The members of the U.S. men's 5,000-meter relay team celebrate with their medals. -Getty Images

Podium finishes in the 1,000 meters and relay events were up for grabs Sunday in the first of four stops in the 2013-14 World Cup Short Track series in Shanghai.

Suk Hee Shim earned her second win of the weekend, taking first in the 1,000. She finished second in this event in last year's overall World Cup classification. Last year's World Cup champion at the distance, Elise Christie (Great Britain), did not make it past the semifinal round, having received a penalty from the officials. Alang Kim (Korea) finished second, while Chinese skater Jianrou Li took third.

In the men's 1,000 meters, Charles Hamelin (Canada) led from start to finish to take the win, despite being under constant pressure from the other three skaters in the final. Dutch skater Niels Kerstholt finished second, barely a blade length ahead of Han-Bin Lee of Korea; a photo finish review was required to separate third and fourth place. This was Hamelin's second individual win and third medal of the weekend.

In the ladies 3,000-meter relay final, China, the defending World Cup distance champion, was hoping to start the season with a victory in front of its home fans, but Korea took the gold instead, winning by less than 0.02 seconds. Italy finished third.

In the men's 5,000-meter relay final, the United States took the win in what was a very close three-way race with Korea and Canada. With six laps to go, the U.S. took the lead from Korea, the defending World Cup distance champion. This was a great start to the season for U.S., which finished seventh overall in the 2012-13 World Cup season. Rounding out the podium was Canada, which led the race early on.